Michał Wróblewski, born in 1983, plays and composes piano music. He is a graduate of the Department of Jazz and Popular Music of the K. Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. He has won many awards, in 2012 he became a laureate of the competition Transatlantyk – Instant Composition Contest and a finalist of the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition 2012. A year later he won a Słowik, a cultural award of the city of Gorzów Wielkopolski. He performed at many jazz festivals including the Jazz nad Odrą Festival, the Jazz Jantar Festival, the Pomorze Jazz Autumn, Jazz Fest Berlin, Jazz on Guido, the Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition, the Ars Cameralis Festival – these are only some of the festivals, at which he gave performances.
Since 2010 he has been leading his own ensemble – Michał Wróblewski Trio, which consists of Michał Jaros (double bass), Paweł Dobrowolsi (drums) and Wróblewski himself. The trio won the 1st award at the Kraków competition for young jazz bands Jazz Juniors. The group has under its belt the debutant album I Remember, which was noticed by critics and fans in Poland and also in Israel, the USA and Japan. The album got great reviews, it also appeared on the Japanese market in September 2012. In November 2013 the musicians from Wróblewski’s trio went on a concert tour with Terence Blanchard – a world famous trumpet player, composer of film music, Ellis Marsalis’ pupil and the author of music for A Streetcar Named Desire and films by Spike Lee.
The sound of a piano trio is probably the most popular sound in jazz music; we encounter this sound in the music of almost any large band, where this sound plays the role of the rhythm section – wrote Ryszard Borowski in the magazine Jazz Forum. The recording of a trio album featuring a unique sound delivered by a band, and consisting of a few compositions, of which every one will be distinctive – this seems downright impossible. However this feat was accomplished by the three young musicians from Michał Wróblewski Trio. I haven’t heard such a great Polish album in a long time!
Maciej Nowotny from Radio Jazz adds: What distinguishes him from the many Polish pianists leaving the Academy of Music in Katowice is surely his composing talent. The compositions are diverse and display a wide range of musical inspirations – from traditional stride piano, through bop, cool, Polish folk, to free jazz. Anybody can be impressed by the easiness with which he combines these influences, singing at the same time his own, original song.
On the new album Michał Wróblewski’s group moves on in the direction the band had chosen: instead of formal experiments we will hear catchy tunes; in the place of wild solos we will find rather toned displays, which carefully choose the used notes; untamed expression is substituted by sparing and traditional, but very diverse compositions. Warsaw Blues which opens the album could have well been created in the 20s in one of the jazz clubs of Harlem. The next number Take Nine (a wink of an eye to Dave Brubeck’s classic Take Five) is based on rhythms typical of Brazilian popular music. On Wróblewski’s urban album one can also find the Chopinesque, lyrical, but also aggressive Etude E – Flat Minor, or the sentimental Ballad for Mary. The record ends with Joyride, a composition, or rather a cheerful blues song devoid of words.
Michał Wróblewski is only shaping his way of musical expression, but he’s doing it very carefully and thoroughly. His music was appreciated in Japan and in the near future he will perform in the USA, Germany, Italy and a few other places in the world.
- Michał Wróblewski – piano
- Michal Jaros – double bass
- Paweł Dobrowolski – drums
Michał Wróblewski Trio – City Album, pub. Gats Production Ltd (2014).
Translated by: Marek Kępa